Hold down clamps typically include a clamping arm that can pivot between an open or disengaged position and a closed or engaged position. Hold down clamps can be used to hold work pieces in place during processing and for clamping multiple objects together. Hold down clamps are designed to quickly engage and disengage from the work piece or objects being held. Many of the hold down clamps include a toggle or latch in order to lock the hold down clamp in an engaged position. The latch can be unlocked when an operator desires to move the clamping arm to the disengaged position.
The latch prevents the clamping arm from being unintentionally released. The latch typically includes a lever portion that an operator must compress against a top surface of the hold down clamp handle or a bottom surface of the hold down clamp handle in order to unlock the latch. When the lever is repetitively compressed, such as in a production environment where the work pieces are frequently changed, the operator may develop a discomfort in their hand. The lever requires a handle portion to allow the operator to firmly grasp the lever in order to compress it against the hold down clamp handle. It is desirable to have a robust hold down clamp that can be released from the engaged position without compressing the handle portion of the lever toward the hold down clamp handle. This may also enable a smaller and lower cost lever to be implemented.